Robin: Google “easy mole” and you will get back a gajillion links to recipes for this traditional Mexican delicacy. While it certainly delights me that this exquisite sauce is well-known enough outside its native land to have a plethora of recipes published for it in English, I know enough to realize that not everything labeled…
Mole Sauce for Beginners
Robin: If you’re even just a little bit interested in authentic Mexican food, you’ve probably heard of mole or mole sauce. (I’ll use those terms interchangeably here.) You may even have ordered it at a Mexican restaurant at some point—unless you were put off by the unappetizing appearance of a dark-colored mole and still haven’t…
Caribbean Beef Patties
Ed: Though similar in many ways to South American beef empanadas, both the filling and the dough of these delicious patties have their own distinctive Caribbean ingredients. Ginger and curry powder are must-haves in the meat hash, while turmeric gives a lovely yellow color to the dough. Beef patties, also called meat pies, are very…
Cheese Cracklings (Chicharrón de queso)
Robin: You know that little bit of cheese that oozes out of a grilled cheese sandwich and drips down onto the surface of the pan, where it gets crispy and almost-but-not-quite burns before you scrape it off and pop it into your mouth? It’s sooooo delicious, the very best bite of the whole meal, to…
Gala Turkey Salad
Robin: Most of us don’t roast a turkey more than a couple of times a year at the most, so when we do, it’s a big deal and it’s important to use every last shred of the bird to the best advantage. What to do with all those itty bitty pieces of white and dark…
Turkey Broth (for Soup-making and Other Uses)
Robin: Please don’t discard the carcass left over after carving a roasted turkey; it is extremely valuable! Cooking the turkey’s “skeleton” will yield a rich, delicious broth that can be turned into soup or any one of a number of other yummy delights. Turkeys are native to all of North America, from Canada through Mexico,…
Sweet Potato and Cinnamon Gelatin
Robin: Inspired by the multitude of sweet gelatin dishes I came across in Mexico, I came up with this easy-to-make and somewhat sophisticated-looking dessert that might remind you a little of a crustless sweet potato pie. The gelatin is creamy and mousse-like in texture, but firm enough to hold its shape when cut into slices….
Autumn Vegetable Chili
Robin: Ed and I moved back to my native Indiana in the spring of 2022, but before that we’d lived several years in places (South Florida and Costa Rica) that don’t really get an autumn, and I missed that season most of all. I did my best to enjoy pretending to cycle through the four…
Spinach Pie
Ed: For me as a South American man, this is a real comfort food. You could say It’s just a simple savory pastry, and it is, but for me this delicious baked spinach pie is a memory attached to my soul. As a child in Lima, Peru, one of my favorite lunches or substantial snacks was what…
Autumn Spice Puppy Chow
Robin: I made a first version of this in October of 2016 and took it in to work. Now, Ed and I live in South Florida—a huge salad bowl of people of different cultures, cuisines, and languages—and plenty of things that might seem ordinary to folks back in the good ol’ Midwest (where I grew…